


Do Not Go Gentle

by Zee XI (Zookimer)



Series: The Reformation and Subsequent Heroisms of Evelyn Antony Stark [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Genderbent Tony Stark, Hulk is upset because Loki didn't hardly put up a fight, Near Death Experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 08:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zookimer/pseuds/Zee%20XI
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rogers had told Tony once that she would never be the one to jump on the grenade for the safety of her teammates. Tony almost never fails to step up to any challenge, whether she means to or not.</p>
<p>Sometimes she just has really, really shitty timing.</p>
<p>Some things must be done, however much one wants to avoid them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do Not Go Gentle

 

"Stark, you copy? I got a rogue nuke headed straight for Manhattan."

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOUR PEOPLE NUKING NEW YORK?!"

-

"Does anyone copy? I can close the portal!"

Shit.

"Do it!"

_Double_ shit. "No, stop!" Tony shouted over the com.

"Stark, those things aren't slowing down."

"Yeah, well," She would shrug, if she weren't holding a nuke, "I've got a missile coming in, aimed at Manhattan. Payload could reach a good chunk of Long Island." She paused, the portal starting to look more and more like the little hole you put the golf ball in. Come to think of it, she hated golf. "I can't stop it, but I know just where to put it."

There was a pause on the comms for about ten seconds.

"Stark, you know that's a one way trip, right?" Rogers was in her ear, sounding too serious.

She ignored him.

"Hey J, close comms and divert power from propulsion to steering. Little Boy here should take care of the rest."

She could still do this. She was going to point the nuke into the portal, and then she was going to fly back victoriously and there would be parades and flowers for everyone, and then she would get to fixing the Tower and then she'd take Pepper out, or maybe Pepper would be too stressed and break up with her, in which case she would ask Bruce out to dinner or at least invite him over for Science Things.

"Ma'am," intoned JARVIS, who sounded sort of meloncholy. _Dammit, Jarv, I'm trying to stay positive here._ "Shall I try Miss Potts?"

Oh, god, Pepper. What could she say? "...Nah, she'd just tall me I'm being reckless. Hey, start up program Juliette-India-Charlie, procedure fourteen-A."

"The contingency plan, Ma'am?" JARVIS queried.

"Just in case."

"Passcode?"

"Code is twenty-six, X-ray, Yankee, sepulcher."

"Procedure in effect." JARVIS confirmed, "Timer is set for thirty six hours." The timer started counting down on the HUD, big blue letters on the right-hand side of her vision, translucent to allow her to see what was in front of her.

She was so close now. She heaved up with all the might she and her creation could muster, the full ninety degrees to parallel the beam supporting the yawning maw of the portal-

-And nothing. Suddenly there was silence, save the pounding of her pulse in her ears. After a moment, she started gasping as the last of the air hissed out of the cracks in the suit. She couldn't _breathe_. Oh, god, she was gonna _suffocate alone_ in the _dark_ and _cold,_ without even JARVIS to keep her company, the HUD was fizzling out-

-Ahead of her, the nuke rushed along and exploded when it reached the mothership. In her darkening vision, through the miniscule eye slits in the mask, she saw the leviathan armored flying snakes curl up in unison, hopefully dying. Maybe it was worth it after all, maybe she'd proved Rogers wrong, _fuck him, she was Iron Man,_ and she'd totally jumped on the literal explosive-

- _Winning isn't any fun sometimes,_ she thought, and then thought nothing more.

-

Well, at least until she woke up, her alarm being a large green rage monster screaming in her ear.

"Oh, what the hell?" She was gasping for air, leftover terror and phantom feelings of someone squishing her lungs in their fists keeping her from focusing for a moment. When her vision cleared, she could see Thor, Rogers, and Hulk all standing over or sitting by her on the rubble. "Please tell me none of you kissed me. What happened?"

Rogers looked up, nodding in the general direction of the Tower, "We won."

Sure enough, there was no longer a rip in the fabric of reality hovering above her tower. She sighed in releif. "Alright. Hooray! Good job guys, excellent team work. You know what? I think we should all just not go in to work tomorrow. Or for the next week. Maybe month. Think saving the world earns us some paid vacation." She shifted, attempting to jar the suit's system back to life. "Have you guys every tried shawarma? I bounced past a shawarma joint during all the fighting. I dunno what it is, but I wanna try it."

"We've still got one last errand," said Thor, who had been smiling faintly during her short rant.

"Feeble god," grunted Hulk quietly, with a tone that could best be described as a mix between irritation and disappointment, "No contest."

"...And then Shawarma after. Where's Birdbrain and Tsaritsa?"

**Author's Note:**

> Do you know how hard it was, trying to find a poem quote to title this with? Seriously.  
> In the end, this is that one Dylan Thomas poem. Rage, rage, 'gainst the dying of the light.


End file.
